Monthly Archives: May 2013

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Returning All-SGV running back Jake Payton has left the San Dimas football program and is likely to transfer to Upland for his senior season.

Rumors began swirling about Payton’s plans earlier this month and Payton missed a meeting to discuss his future with Saints head coach Bill Zernickow on Friday afternoon.

“Recently, I have learned that Jake Payton plans on transferring at the end of the school year,” Zernickow said in a prepared statement. “While this is a family decision, we want to thank Jake Payton for spending the last 3 years with us. We love Jake Payton, and we hope he is able to achieve the dreams and goals he has in playing football. My door will always be open for Jake.”

Payton was named to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune’s first team at running back after rushing for 1,658 yards and 22 touchdowns. He was also the Valle Vista League’s Player of the Year after leading the Saints to the league championship.

According to several reliable sources, Payton’s plans are to transfer to Upland. He may be with the Scots as early as Saturday when they compete in the Claremont Tourament.

Aram’s take: How does Upland do it? Simply incredible. First Elijah Jones from Damien and now Payton. I don’t know enough about Upland football to say where Payton fits in. He’s certainly a fantastic player and a nice get. Will he be the feature back? Dunno. Will this move ultimately lead to more exposure and ultimately some nice college offers? Hopefully. As for San Dimas, this is a major blow, but not something the Saints can’t recover from. Payton has a bona fide home run hitter in the Wing-Z, but as we’ve seen throughout the years, Zernickow’s offense makes the stars, not the other way around. SD has depth at running back and a returning QB in Josh Avila. It’s hard to say that Payton made SD a legit Mid-Valley Division title contender by himself, but he was surely one of the top players in the division and a difference maker.

Congrats go out to former All-Area linebacker Kyle Lengyel of Diamond Ranch, who graduated from the Air Force Academy this week. Lengyel was a standout for the Panthers and instrumental in their Southeast Division runner-up seasons in 2007 and 08. Panthers head coach Roddy Layton was able to take in the ceremony in Colorado Springs.

Aram’s take: Talk about a huge future ahead for Lengyel. Those service academy grads are no joke and can basically write their own tickets in this world.

Diamond Bar football player Antonio “Noodles” Hull will have his final appeal heard by the CIF State appeals committee on JUne 27 at 10 a.m.

Hull will be represented by attorney Chris Prussak, who among other things is expected to argue that Hull’s change of address should make him eligible for the upcoming season after he left West Covina in the offseason.

Hull was declared ineligible to play varsity football until Nov. 16, 2013 by the Southern Section after West Covina disputed his transfer to Diamond Bar on grounds that it was athletically motivated. Hull already lost his first appeal.

The much-anticipated unveiling of Bishop Amat will take place this weekend in the Claremont Tournament, and then the Lancers go on their dead period before returning later in June at the Bonita Air Assault. So if you wanna check them out, now’s your chance for the near future.

Anyway, the Lancers will be in action starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday on Field 4 against Valley View in the Claremont Tournament.

This will be a good opportunity to see which of the Super Sophs are up with the big team and getting reps and where. QB Koa Haynes should be in action, but I’ve also heard he may be taking SATs. And wide receiver Isaac Archer, a Damien transfer, has a chance to be a special player.

Other locals out at Claremont this weekend include El Monte, La Salle, La Serna, West Covina and El Rancho. Here are the pools:

UPDATED, 7:10 p.m. PT:Chris Prussak, the attorney for Antonio “Noodles” Hull, returned my call and discussed the case and the grounds on which he plans to argue Noodles’ appeal. I will list them, but one common theme kept resurfacing and that’s that “athletically motivated” is an unclear term rule/term. “One hundred percent of athletes who make their appeal to CIF, they’re athletically motivated,” Prussak said. “They want to play athletics, therefore they are athletically motivated. Tell me the different degrees. It doesn’t say there are different degrees in the blue book, so I don’t understand that term.” Prussak will also argue that it’s unconstitutional for CIF to step in and say Hull is ineligible when he made a valid change of residence. Other parts of his case will include academics and safety/threat issues that have been alleged in other emails.

UPDATED: Antonio “Noodles” Hull is ineligible for varsity football participation until Nov. 16, 2013 and not Nov. 9 as previously reported. The one-year penalty corresponds with the date that the infraction was committed and not the date of his last varsity participation with West Covina.

The family of Diamond Bar High School football player Antonio “Noodles” Hull has hired an attorney to help appeal the CIF-Southern Section’s declaration of his ineligibility until Nov. 16, 2013.

Hull, a junior-to-be, transferred from West Covina to Diamond Bar this offseason with hopes of playing for the Brahmas this fall. Earlier this month, the CIF-Southern Section office declared him ineligible for varsity football participation until Nov. 16, 2013 after West Covina disputed the transfer on grounds that it was athletically motivated.

West Covina provided the CIF-Southern Section office with a letter from Hull’s father, which left the ruling body no choice but to declare Hull ineligible under Rule 510, which includes athletic motivation violations among other things.

The penalty for an athletic motivation infraction is a one-year revocation of varsity eligibility from the date of the infraction.

Hull’s family will now state its case to a state appeal committee under, and they’ll do it under the guidance of Chris Prussak, an Orange County based attorney who claims he specializes in CIF appeals cases.

Hull shined as a sophomore at West Covina last fall, earning Tribune Newcomer of the Year honors after playing quarterback, running back and safety for the Bulldogs.

He was expected to be in the mix to play quarterback for Diamond Bar and also start at safety for the Brahmas.

Monrovia running back Kurt Scoby won’t participate in team activities until summer in order to focus on academics, according to Wildcats head coach Ryan Maddox.

Many of you were wondering why Scoby was a spectator last Saturday as Monrovia competed in the Charter Oak Tournament. The senior-to-be has decided to shun football for the classroom until later this summer.

Scoby’s decision is not expected to impact his chances of being the Wildcats’ feature back. Monrovia is loaded at running back with the return of Darion Jones and two up-and-coming prospects in Cameron Johnson and Anthony Marquez, who will both be sophomores.

“He’s in the process of getting everything squared away grades-wise,” Maddox said. “He’s in good standing. He wanted to focus on his education and focus on getting into a Division I college.

“He’ll join us in the summer. Kurt will make the adjustments and know what he’s doing. He’ll be just fine.”

Coaches, you can only keep things a secret for so long. Once the passing circuit begins, everything is out in the open. So on that note, here are two transfers that have flown under the radar until now but have the chance to be impactful this fall.

Elijah Jones leaves Damien for Upland — Jones has major upside and I know the previous Damien coaching staff was very excited about the junior-to-be RB/DB. Well, he didn’t stick around La Verne for the Mark Paredes Era at Damien and is now at Damien Upland and looking good if this springs’ results mean anything. So now Damien has lost its returning QB and best offensive threat. Yowza!

Alex Powell leaves Charter Oak for South Hills — You see? Charter Oak does lose players! Powell looked good at times last year as a WR/DB and he gives South Hills the kind of outside speed the Huskies could really use. Powell, who is the younger brother of former Charter Oak standout AJ Powell, is a senior-to-be. He would have had a larger for CO this fall, but maybe he felt South Hills was a better place to be. CO has an abundance of skill players, so I don’t think they’ll be in big trouble over this. Good get for the Huskies.

Aram’s take: Go figure, Upland is loaded again. La Habra proved something, though, because the talk around Highlander Land is that they’re back to “La Habra levels”. We all know the defense will be there, so if the offense is good to go, watch out. Now, WHAT ABOUT GLENDORA? A freshman QB who looks like he’s gonna be special. That’s scary. Word is the Tartans really turned heads and remember, they’ll be out of this ridiculous league/division in another year. Also good to see Frankie Palmer and La Serna look good throwing. The Lancers should have the capability to open it up this year and that could mean another title run.

East 42, West 18 — Close to 4,000 fans showed up and Charter Oak’s Aaren Vaughns electrified the crowd with long touchdowns, two on offense and one on defense. Chino Hills’ Matty Ice Simko threw for two scores and ran for another. The East’s defense laid lick after lick, but did catch some breaks in that the West had some drives in East territory stopped on downs. Of course, the East defense had a lot to do with it. Rio Hondo Prep’s Jake Holguin hauled in three touchdowns to lead the West. Don’t anybody give me crap when I rank Rio Hondo Prep high in the SGV(N) Top 25s. I didn’t have my eyes opened to the Kares until this year, but I can tell you they would have done just fine in the Mid-Valley Division or Southeast. Holguin was just one of several all-stars they could have had. The East now leads the series 22-10-2 and has won six straight. Gladstone coach Albert Sanchez goes out a winner and South El Monte’s Pablo Ocegueda provides the feel-good moment by playing despite losing four fingers in a fluke tug-a-war accident earlier this year.

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